Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan has termed the appointment of Rakesh Asthana as Special Director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as illegal. According to him, the Modi government is trying to tarnish the independence of the investigating agency. Bhushan added that Asthana’s name appears in the diary of Sterling Biotech against whom CBI had filed an FIR. The CBI’s Delhi Unit had on August 30 registered FIR against three senior Income Tax Commissioners for accepting bribes from Sterling Biotech and Sandesara Group of Companies. According to sources, the diary contains information pertaining to monthly payout to several police officials, Income Tax Commissioners and politicians in Gujarat and Delhi. The diary also contained Asthana’s name.
Bhushan, who had filed a PIL in the Supreme Court against Asthana’s appointment, said, “In my view this is totally illegal and we will certainly challenge it. This shows present government is hell-bent on destroying the independence and integrity of CBI.
Too much government interference has affected the functioning of CBI. The Supreme Court had earlier observed that the investigating agency was acting like a caged parrot and had asked the government to pass legislation to provide functional autonomy to CBI.”
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